蒼蠅王、動物農莊、1984之類的經典太多人提及了,故不贅述。
特別想推薦另一部較冷門的小說:
約瑟芬‧鐵伊(Josephine Tey)的《時間的女兒》(The Daughter of Time)
這是本不太像推理小說的推理小說,倒談了很多歷史。故事大綱
是一個現代(以鐵伊的寫作背景而言是1950年代)的警探跌斷腿,
在住院期間閒著無聊,於是著手調查一樁五百年前的謀殺案。
這本小說對中文讀者而言冷門是因內容牽涉太多英國史,尤其是
玫瑰戰爭及理查三世的生平。臉譜多年前有在台灣出版中文翻譯,
還附唐諾的導讀(我很欣賞唐諾的推理小說導讀文章),但我也聽
過批評說臉譜版翻譯有紕漏。
推薦這本書的理由,我就抄兩段英文維基百科的內容來解釋了:
The book explores how history is constructed, and how certain versions of
events come to be widely accepted as the truth, despite a lack of evidence.
The "Daughter of Time" of the title is a quotation from the work of Sir
Francis Bacon: "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority." Grant
comes to understand the ways that great myths are constructed, and how in
this case, the victorious Tudors saw to it that their version of history
prevailed.
本書探討歷史是如何被建構,以及某些事件版本如何被廣泛接受為真相,即使
缺乏證據。書名來自培根所言「真相是時間的女兒,而非權威(之女)」。書中
主角逐漸了解偉大迷思被建構的方式,以及勝利的都鐸王室如何使他們詮釋的
歷史版本普及於世。
[...] Grant adopts the term "Tonypandy" to describe widely believed
historical myths, such as the Tonypandy Riot, or deliberately falsified
history, such as the life of Richard III. This thread reflects a dislike
and distrust of emotional popular narratives concerning supposed historical
injustices which also surfaces in Tey's other works.
書中用「湯尼潘第」一詞描述被廣泛接受的歷史迷思,例如湯尼潘第暴動;或刻意
偽造的歷史,例如理查三世的生平。這些線索反映鐵伊對於大眾流行的「歷史上的
不公不義」煽情敘事的厭惡及不信任。